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Biblical Insights

(Nanjing, 1988)

Behold, now is the acceptable time;Behold, now is the day of salvation.

(2 Corinthians 6:2–10)

The history of Protestant Christianity in China begins with the arrival of Robert Morrison at Guangzhou in 1807. The first part of the story covers about one hundred and fifty years. Many volumes have been written on this period with various descriptions, conclusions and assessments from different angles. Some are helpful, some are not quite so. Now we have turned to a new chapter. As regards the relationship with Christians of other countries in the future, we are looking forward to a new era of brother and sisterhood and being fellow-workers in Christ, of genuine mutual understanding, concern and respect. We have come to share with you some of our experiences and reflections of how Christians are living and witnessing for Christ in China today, in the post-Cultural-Revolution period of rebuilding and rehabilitating the Christian Church. Let me first give you a brief sketch in figures as a background of my presentation.

As you all know, the Christian Church in China underwent a total “blackout” of about fifteen years. Then, beginning from 1979 there came a “recall-to-life” and recuperation. The changes have been stupendous. According to our latest survey and estimates (1987) there are now more than 4,700 churches and 16,600 “meeting points.”

This means we have been re-opening or building anew at a rate of more than one church a day. The total number of Protestant Christians, including church members and inquirers, is over four million. (This may be a conservative estimate. But I would rather be a bit conservative on this than exaggerate, as some people like to take pleasure in making sensational news with scanty factual support.) As compared with 700,000, the pre-liberation total, the result of one hundred and fifty years of missionary efforts, this means an increase of about five times in a period of three decades. This is really miraculous, taking into consideration the rugged roads of hardship and trials we have trodden. We praise and thank God for His guidance, protection and blessings.(There are many factors contributing to this rapid growth, which I shall touch upon a little later, and there are also many problems and difficulties calling for immediate attention and further endeavouring.)

But the Lord has led us to walk through the valley of the shadow of death, and makes us lie down in green pastures, leading us beside still waters and restoring our souls (Psalm 23, See also Ezek. 34:11–16). “Thus says the Lord: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.” And lo, “the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great host” (Ezek. 37:9–10). Now we are facing the task of rebuilding the Lord’s house. “Take courage, all you people of the Lord, says the Lord; work, for I am with you.” “My spirit abides among you, fear not . . .The latter splendor of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts; and in this place I will give prosperity, says the Lord of hosts” (Hag. 2:4,5).

It is through these experiences that the message and force of the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Great Commission and promises given to the apostles in the first century, and the stories of the Pentecost and afterwards, recorded in the first chapters of the Acts of the Apostles, have become all the more real and vivid to us during these years. And we have been talking about, and meditating on a Theology of the Resurrection in our church a great deal. The little (?) book by the Rev. Professor Rowan Williams, whom I had the privilege to meet in person in Oxford, becomes more revealing and thought-provoking to us, in developing a theology of Resurrection in the context of present-day Chinese church and society.

But the growth of the church is faster than we can keep up with. There is a grave shortage of pastors, preachers and church workers. At present there are only about six thousand pastors and preachers in the whole country, most of them in old age, and others rather young and without adequate training and experience. There is a wide age gap among the practising ministers. Most of the rural churches and assembly points have only lay workers who have little or no training at all. The quality of spiritual nurture and pastoral care is very low, and in some places this breeds disorders and deviations. “When Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they are harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (Mt. 9:36–37). The Nanjing Union Theological Seminary was reopened in 1981. Altogether 150 students have graduated over the past three years. And since 1984, eleven theological schools and colleges or training centers at regional or provincial levels have been set up. A Bible school of junior standard was opened in Shaanxi (陕西) Province last year. Heilongjiang is preparing to set up another. Last year a one-year training course was started in the Nanjing Seminary for the province of Henan, where there are over 830,000 Christians with less than 100 pastors and preachers. It is hoped that from the 50 trainees many may be ordained to take up ministerial responsibilities in that province. Over 700 regular students are being trained in these colleges. Many church councils at provincial or municipal levels are also running short-term courses of one to four months to train lay workers. A correspondence course is published bi-monthly and has over 33,000 subscribers. These and other measures are what we have been taking to meet this number-one need in building the church in China.

Shortage of Bibles was also a problem, and caused concern to many Christians abroad. The shortage has been due to, not just the devastating “Cultural Revolution,” but also the growing needs of new converts and inquirers and an increasing interest in (and demand for) the Bible among non-Christian students and intellectuals. In the past five years three million copies of the Bible have been printed and distributed. The Amity Printing Press in Nanjing, thanks to the assistance of the United Bible Societies, gives priority to printing the Bible and other religious literature. We have compiled and published a new hymnal for national distribution. Ms. Cao Shengjie (曹圣洁), Associate General Secretary of the China Christian Council and Executive Secretary of the Committee on Church Music, who is here with us today, is the chief editor of this hymnal. Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit many other things are being done in meeting the many needs of the growing and thriving church.

Another feature of the Protestant Church in China I want to stress is that in response to the intercessory prayer of our Lord (Jn. 17), we are striving to realize the unity of the church, following St. Paul’s admonition: “with all lowliness and meekness, with patience, forbearing one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all” (Eph, 4:2–6).

We have outgrown former denominational structural patterns which often brought about splitting, competition, waste of personnel and financial resources and disharmony. Adhering to the principle of mutual respect regarding matters of faith (theology), spiritually (ways of devotion and forms of service and liturgy) and church polity, we are reorganizing our congregations into local churches under “Christian Councils” at municipal, provincial and national levels. Most of the meeting points are associated with churches, and the ministers and preachers stationed at the churches go around to serve and help the assembly points. We seek to preserve the valuable historical heritage and contributions of the various denominations but try to guard against the evils of denominationalism and sectarianism. The China Christian Council is not like National Councils of Churches in other countries, nor yet is it a united Church of Christ in China, but is something somewhere between the two. Your experiences and efforts in seeking a new pattern of “ecumenical instrument” that will embrace not just Protestant denominations, Anglicans, but also Catholics are something beyond our grasp and hopes yet. But we can learn from you in this aspect. We are waiting for the Holy Spirit to lead us a step forward toward our aim, which is to achieve real unity but with variety, not uniformity.